Measuring Enterprise Potential in Young People

Abstract

As young people increasingly become the target of entrepreneurial and enterprise policy initiatives and enterprise education in schools increases, so does the need to effectively measure the impact these programs have. A research instrument was designed to measure "enterprise potential" in young people using attitudes toward characteristics associated with entrepreneurship. A control-group cross-sectional design was used to investigate the impact of participation in a Young Enterprise Company Program, which is based on the U.S. Junior Achievement model, in six secondary schools in London, United Kingdom. The study found that participation in a Company Program can foster positive attitudes toward selfemployment and that participants displayed greater enterprise potential than nonparticipants. Demographic differences also emerged in enterprise potential between ethnic groups. Young Black people were more positive about self-employment and displayed greater enterprise potential than either White or Asian pupils. A family background of self-employment had a positive influence on pupils' intentions to become self-employed. Finally, the research raises a conceptual issue concerning the multidimensionality of the construct of "enterprise potential."

Analiza temeljnih pristupa istraživanja poduzetničke kompetencije djece i mladih

“…Istraživanja, danas, imaju ograničenu mogućnost generalizacije zbog fragmentarnog pristupa i teorijski različitih utemeljenja istraživanog konstrukta (Alberti i sur., 2004). Suvremeni pristup se temelji na činjenici da se poduzetnost te kvalitete povezane s poduzetništvom mogu razvijati i poučavati u formalnom vidu obrazovanja ili kroz programe neformalnog i informalnog obrazovanja (Kourilsky i Campbell, 1981;Chell i sur., 1991;Rushing, 1990;Kourilsky i Walstad, 2007;Athayde 2009). …”

“…U razdoblju od 2002. godine do 2009. je provedeno nekoliko istraživanja s britanskim srednjoškolcima, koja su za cilj imala utvrđivanje osnovnih metrijskih pokazatelja upitnika stavova o poduzetništvu (Athayde 2009), a kasnije provjeravala se je primjerenost instrumenta u drugim sociokulturnim sredinama (Steenekamp i sur., 2011). Prema dostupnim podatcima, postoje dvije verzije skale, ovisno o tome primjenjuju li se na populaciju učenika (14 do 16 godina) ili na populaciji studenata.…”

“…Tako određena teorijska rješenja, poput Gibbove teorija poduzetničkih dimenzija, mogu biti temelj za razvoj pouzdanih istraživačkih instrumenata upitničkog tipa, kao što je slučaj razvoja Upitnika stavova prema poduzetništvu (Athayde, 2009). Polazišta za buduća istraživanja možemo pronaći u načinima ispitivanja poduzetničke kompetencije, te obilježjima kojima je dan značaj u dosadašnjim istraživanjima.…”

The impact of life values on entrepreneurial intentions of students in Serbia

“…The questionnaire has eighteen items. These items present the most extreme values and refer to a preferred final state of existence (Robbins & Judge, 2009 (Athayde, 2009). The questionnaire has 18 items distributed in 4 dimensions.…”

“…Enterprise potential only indicates that a person has the qualities and attitudes that contribute to launching entrepreneurial ventures. According to Athayde (2009), enterprise potential is a topic in the field of entrepreneurship, which is important and often investigated. In this paper, enterprise potential is measured through a questionnaire that was developed.…”